26.1.17

Algeria born Villaplane was a robust left half who played for FC Sète, Nimes, Racing, Antibes and Nice.
He won 25 international caps and was the captain of France at the 1930 World Cup in Uruguay.
During the war he emerged from the criminal underworld as an officer of the Brigade Nord Africain, who operated under the direction of the Gestapo. He was actively involved in atrocities and was executed for his crimes in 1944.

23.1.17

The Joan Gamper we usually see is the bespectacled, avuncular elder statesmen of Barcelona, but when he founded that eminent club he was still a player first and foremost.
In 1901-02 Barcelona enjoyed a glut of goals. They played 26 matches, losing only one, and scored in every game. They scored 146 goals in total, an average of over 5 a game.

Goals
scored

Number
of games

1

3

2

2

3

3

4

6

5

1

6

1

7

3

8

2

9

1

10

1

12

2

15

1

At the forefront of this goal rush was 24 year old Gamper:

Joan Gamper / Hans Camper

Switzerland

29

Bernat Lassaleta

Spain

24

Lluís d'Ossó

Catalunya

20

Udo Steinberg

Germany

19

Paul Viderkher

Switzerland

6

Joaquín García

Catalunya

George Noble

Catalunya

5

Alfonso Albéniz

Catalunya

John Parsons

Catalunya

4

James Albert Eckes

England

Stanley Harris

England

Josep Llobet

Catalunya

Arthur Leask

Catalunya

3

Henry Morris

England /Basque/Philippines

2

? Chown

?

? Catala

Catalunya

Own Goals

Josep Quirante

Catalunya

1

Josep Vidal

Catalunya

? Conarre

?

? Gener

?

The only team to defeat Barcelona's only defeat came in the final of Copa de la Coronació, beaten 2-1 by Athletic Club Bilbao in the guise of Bizcaya.

United's president, Mr John Hilton Crowther was a prosperous woollen mill owner who had injected a fortune into Huddersfield Town in 1918. Huddersfield struggled to attract support, and their ability to sustain League status was called into question. With the demise of Leeds City Hilton Crowther proposed a merger between Huddersfield town and the newly formed Leeds United. Whilst welcomed in Leeds, this proposal, which was submitted to the Football League, caused outrage and protests in Huddersfield. The situation was resolved thus: The League gave Huddersfield Town a month in which to pay Mr Crowther off (£25,000) in order to maintain their independence. If they failed to do so the merger would go ahead. Hilton Crowther settled for £17,500 and 12,500 Huddersfield Town shares.

Strangely, for the first 14 years of their existence Leeds United played in the same colours as Huddersfield Town.

16.1.17

Gold medals from the 1930 World Cup. These were presented to Hector Scarone and Jose Leandro Andrade. The 18 carat medals measure 4cm x 2cm and weigh 25 grammes.The Uruguayan Football Association also presented the players with replicas of the Trophy 'Victory', later named in honour of Jules Rimet.

14.1.17

If we look at the current top 5 levels of the English Football Pyramid we find 18 different suffixes to club names:

I have not included Villa as Aston Villa is actually a place name (Villa Cross, Handsworth was shown on the Ordnance Survey map of 1834 as Aston Villa). Crystal Palace, similarly, I have taken to be a place name. I have also passed over the psuedo exotic use of AFC as a prefix . In a blog which deals with the development of football up until 1937 it would be foolish to include Dons, a 21st century suffix arising out of the relocation of Wimbledon in 2004. Arsenal was originally a suffix, but now Arsenal is just Arsenal. That leaves us with the following:Unique suffixes:Alexandra Crewe's football club formed in 1877. They either took their name from Princess Alexandra or from a pub that was named in her honour. Argyle Initially founded in 1886 and resurrected in 1897 Argyle Football Club added Plymouth to their name on joining the Southern League in 1903. The club was likely to have been named after the Argyle public house. Hotspur The Tottenham was added by in order to avoid confusion with the Hotspur FC who had joined the Football association in 1879.OrientEagle Cricket Club became Orient FC in 1888. This was possibly a reference to theOrient Shipping Company, or maybe on account of their relatively easterly location. The locational prefixes Clapton (1898) and Leyton (1945) were used in turn. From 1966-1987 the club was known as plain Orient.Stanley

Accrington Stanley were originally founded in 1891. As far as I am aware the name originates from the Stanley Street area of the town. WednesdayFounded in 1867 Sheffield Wednesday were officially known as The Wednesday until 1929.

Interestingly there was a club in Wales called Abergavenny Thursdays (1927-2013). Others:AlbionThe ancient Greek name for Britain. West Bromwich were the first team to be known as Albion. However, rather than some poetic reference to antiquity or the visionary Blake the name originates from the fact that Albion is actually a district in West Bromwich.West Bromwich Albion graced the first season of League football. Athletic
Amateur Athletic were a London club formed in 1868. Loughborough Athletic and Football Club (founded 1887) joined the League in the 1895–96 season.

City

The earliest use of the suffix City was by Lincoln City in 1884. They were also the first City in the League (1892–93).

County
The Nottingham club pre date the Football Association, being founded in 1862. The 2 Counties, Notts and Derby featured in the first season of the Football League.

ForestThe original Forest FC (the forest referred to being Epping forest) went on to change their name to Wanderers. Nottingham Forest joined the League in 1892–93.North End Preston North End (originally a cricket club founded in 1863) played in the northern part of the town. hence the name. Preston began playing Association football in 1878. Glossop North End was founded in 1886.Rangers
The original Rangers were Hertfordshire ('Herts') Rangers, based in Watford and founded in 1865. Queen's Park Rangers entered the League in 1920.Rovers A first for London: Clapham Rovers, alternating between Rugby and Association, founded in 1869. Blackburn carried the name proudly in the opening season of the League. TownSaffron Walden were the first club to bear the suffix Town. Founded in 1872 they were known as Town by the time they joined the Football Association in 1879. The first Town in the League were Grimsby (1892–93).United In 1873 Hanover United from Chiswick were the first Association club to use United. Sheffield United (1892–93) were the fist United in the League. WanderersWanderers FC were founder members of the FA. The first team to use Wanderers as a suffix appears to have been Shropshire Wanderers circa 1873. Wolverhampton and Bolton both played in the first season of League football.The Football League has featured the following suffixes in the past:Borough

Image by George Chilvers

Wigan Borough were in existence from 1920-1931 (previous clubs in Wigan had been Town, United and County, Borough were later superseded by Athletic). CelticUsually denoting a club with Irish Catholic origins, the Manchester club Stalybridge Celtic (founded 1909) played in the League for 3 seasons from 1921. I am uncertain about the origins of the club name.FosseLeicester used to play their matches alongside the old Roman road, the Fosse Way. Joining the League in 1894–95 they were known as Leicester Fosse up until 1919, when they adopted the name Leicester City.Harriers
Kidderminster Harriers and Football Club was formed by the merger of an Athletics club and a Rugby club. Harriers was a common name for athletics clubs. They switched to Association football in 1886. I have included them here although they did not join the Football League until 2000.Ironopolis
A city of Iron- an apt suffix for Middlesbrough. The 'Nops' were founded in 1889. There was a Welsh club Caernarvon Ironopolis (1894-1903).

Park Avenue
A slippery one this, as this was never the official name of Bradford FC (1907), but the name of their ground was used to distinguish them from Bradford City.

SwiftsBurton Swifts came into being in 1871, morphing into Burton United in 1901. The season that Burton Swifts joined the League (1892–93) was also the debut season for Walsall Town Swifts (founded 1888). Trinity
Gainsborough Trinity were founded in 1873 as Trinity Recreationists, being founded by the Vicar of Holy Trinity Church. Tower
It is hardly surprising that a New Brighton club playing in the shadow of a 173 m tower (compared with Blackpool @ 158 m or Eiffel @ 324 m) should pay homage to that structure. New Brighton Tower (1896-1901) did just that.

Victoria
The original Northwich Victoria was founded in 1874 and named in honour of The Queen.

13.1.17

The city of Caxias do Sul in Rio Grande do Sul was founded by Italian migrants in 1890. The 2 major clubs in the city are Sociedade Esportiva e Recreativa Caxias do Sul (1935) and Esporte Clube Juventude (1913).Pictured above is the team of FC Libertador from 1933. From what I can gather this was a team associated with the São Pedro woolen mill.

11.1.17

7th of November 1896, a match played at Anfield in rain and fog, Ned Doig (top right) protesting that the light was too dim for the match to continue. Liverpool fielded 9 Scottish players, Sunderland 11. Following this win Liverpool went top of the League, but eventually finished in 5th place. Former Sunderland player Davy Hannah, playing at outside left, scored all 3 goals for Liverpool.

8.1.17

Stalinets (which very roughly translates as Steel men) was founded in 1925 by the workers of the Leningrad Metal Factory (Ленинградский Металлический Завод). Stalinets were effectively absorbed into the Zenit Leningrad club.

5.1.17

His wonderful positional sense and beautifully timed passes made him the best forward of his generation.

Charles Buchan

Horatio Stratton Carter made his debut for Sunderland in October 1932. His career went on until 1952. He won the League Championship with Sunderland in 1936 (when he was also top scorer in the League) and the FA Cup the following season. He represented England 13 times. His father, Robert 'Toddler' Carter had played for Burslem Port Vale, Stockport County, Fulham and Southampton. He tragically died of an head injury when Raich was just 14.Carter junior had a trial with Leicester at the age of 17, but was told he was too small to make it. He broke into the Sunderland first team as an 18 year old, standing 1.70m and weighing around 59 kg.

2.1.17

If I had a time machine I think the first football match I would go and watch would be the 1930 World Cup Final.
This souvenir brochure was produced in a limited edition of 3,000 copies. Published by the Uruguyan Football Association the book featured 174 photographs and an account of the organization of the tournament, reports of all the matches and FIFA's official summary.
A good copy would fetch about € 1,100 at auction.